Salman Butt: “He only has one movement, he goes deep into the crease and wants to hit every shot on the leg side or maybe straight”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt said power-hitter Iftikhar Ahmed has a prominent weakness as he tries to “hit every shot on the leg side or maybe straight”.
Salman noted that teams are starting to catch on to the fact that the 33-year-old has a very limited number of shots on the off-side and are utilising that to their advantage.
He pointed out that Iftikhar needs to work on this flaw in order to be a more effective batsman as he has a very important role in the Pakistan team.
“He was a proper batsman who used to play at middle order but now he comes to bat when there are just three to four overs left and he only has one movement, he goes deep into the crease and wants to hit every shot on the leg side or maybe straight,” Salman said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
“His arc towards the off-stump is very limited and I think that the teams have picked that. The way he stands, his options are already limited and as soon as he does his initial movements, as a bowler you’d know where you have to bowl him.”
Iftikhar was recently in action in the 2024 T20 World Cup and mustered 23 runs in two games at an average of 11.50 and a strike-rate of 100.
Pakistan lost their first two matches to the United States of America and India before fighting back to claim wins over Canada and Ireland.
However, their victories went in vain as they were eliminated in the group stage of the tournament.
Pakistan Squad for 2024 T20 World Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan (wk), Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
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